The opening ceremony of Jiangxi International Nuo Culture and Art Week in Nanchang in east China's Jiangxi province June 12, 2005.

NANCHANG, June 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of domestic and foreign dancers staged performances Sunday in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, marking the opening of an international art festival that highlights ancient China's exorcism customs.

Watching street performance by 34 folk dancing teams from China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Brazil, and Mozambique, local people relived the ancient rituals of expelling evil spirits and pestilence, which were originally staged during Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

Thirty-five teams from China, Japan, South Korea and other countries and other districts in China are taking part in the festival, which runs from June 12 to June 16. CHINA OUT REUTERS/China Newsphoto Email Photo Print Photo

Activities during the one-week event include a street show, a masked carnival, a folk singing and dancing performance, a seminar and an exhibition on Jiangxi's "Nuo" culture, and joint fieldwork by Chinese and overseas experts.

Nuo ritual, considered to be an eldest form of Chinese dancing, is more a theatrical performance for entertainment in modern society.

The 2,000-year-old folk opera was once used to express farmers' solicitation for good climate, rich harvest and family prosperity.

'Nuo' is an ancient festival held to exorcise the evil spirits causing any plague. Hundreds of domestic and foreign dancers stage performances in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province June 12, 2005.

Nuo performers are often equipped with whips and dance in mysterious tunes. They also wear masks painted with black, white and red in various countenances -- some amiable and others ferocious and frightening.

Jiangxi is know as a cradle of Nuo operas, which are also found in some southern and southwestern part of China.

A Russian performs during a show staged by hundreds of domestic and foreign dancers in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province June 12, 2005.

The festival is expected to expand international cultural cooperation and exchanges and help preserve the Chinese folk art form that is on the verge of extinction, said Li Shuwen, chief of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC).

The art festival is jointly sponsored by Jiangxi provincial government, CFLAC, and Chinese Association of Folk Writers and Artists.